Ubuntu Customization Kit (UCK) 2.4.3 Released

Have you have ever wished that the Ubuntu LiveCD came with different software packages, or had the ubuntu-restricted-extras (flash, mp3 support etc.) and b43-fwcutter (Broadcom wireless firmware/drivers) packages installed by default ?

UCK is a tool that helps you customizing official Ubuntu Live CDs (including Kubuntu/Xubuntu and Edubuntu) to your needs. You can add any package to the live system, for example language packs, or applications.

Features:

Create bootable LiveCD with predefined languages based on original Ubuntu/Kubuntu live CD using wizard with GUI

Below you will find instructions on UCK use.

Things you will need:

The latest version of the UCK (currently 2.4.3)
andan Ubuntu LiveCD ISO image

Once you have installed the UCK, go to Applications>System Tools>Ubuntu Customization Kit.

When the UCK launches you will be presented with an open terminal and the UCK “Welcome” screen… DO NOT close the terminal until you have finished building your customized ISO, as this will exit the application.

Clicking the “Close” button on the “Welcome” screen will present the Language Pack selection screen, where you can choose which language packs you want included on your custom ISO.

After selecting the language packs you want installed and clicking the “OK” button, you will be presented with a screen asking which languages you want available when booting as a LiveCD.

Next you will be asked which language will be selected as the default when you boot the LiveCD… DO NOT select “uk” at this point (as I did the first time) unless you want your LiveCD to default to Ukranian .. select “en” if you want English.

Highlight the languae you want, and click “OK”… you will be presented with a screen asking which desktop environments will be present on the LiveCD.

After selecting the environments you want available and clicking “OK”, you will be asked for the location of the base ISO (the ISO of the Ubuntu distribution/version you want to build from).

Point it to your standard Ubuntu ISO image, and click “OK”… you will be asked for a name for your custom ISO.

Give it a name, and click “OK”… you will be asked if you want to manually customize the CD (add packages etc.), select “yes” if you want to add packages etc. from the package manager, console, etc.

Next you will be asked if you want to remove the WUBI windows installer from the CD.

Now you will be told the custom ISO is ready to be built.

Click “Close”… enter your password in the terminal.

And as it says on the screen… “Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride!”… after it unpacks the base ISO and mounts the squashfs file system, you will be presented with a “Customization Action” screen.

To add packages from the repositories to your custom LiveCD ISO… highlight the “Run package manager” option and select “OK”… you will be presented with a Synaptic UCK package manager interface.

From here, you can enable the universe and multiverse repositories, add any other repositories, and install any extra packages you want available on your custom LiveCD… you can also remove unwanted packages.
(remember – anything you add will probably take the ISO over 700MB, so be prepared to either remove some packages, or burn the resulting custom ISO to a DVD)

When you’ve finished installing/removing packages in the UCK package manager… close it, and you’ll find yourself back at the “Customization Action” screen, if you want to make any extra costomizations from the command line, select the “Run console application” option and you will end up in a chroot(ed) terminal where you can make any other changes, such as installing downloaded software, adding/editing documents or scripts, changing system configuration files, etc.
When you’ve made the last of your customizations in the terminal… close it… again you’ll end up at the “Customization Action” screen… select the “Continue building” option, and wait whilst the custom ISO is built.

You will then be told where to find your customized ISO, which you can either test with qemu, or VirtualBox… or just burn to a CD/DVD.

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